Brian Cashman not sure why Yankees have been 'unwatchable' this season
Yankees GM Brian Cashman takes questions during spring training in Tampa, Florida, on Friday Feb. 14, 2020. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman looked wrung out before Tuesday’s game against the Angels. It was about more than just the blistering heat and humidity at the Stadium. It’s about watching nearly half a season of the team he built to compete for a championship underachieve its way down to fourth place in the AL East, 7 1/2 games behind the first-place Red Sox entering the night.
In addition to saying the team "sucks right now," "stinks to high heaven" and is "unwatchable," he added that he is at a loss to explain the across-the-board underperformance, doesn’t see an obvious fix and feels as if the team must heal from within.
"The most important thing is to self-correct with what we’ve got," Cashman said. "One week ago we're 3 ½ games out and now we've slipped back again," Cashman said. "And that's the frustrating part of it: it's been a first few months to forget."
The Yankees are trying to get some trade talks going but traction has been hard to come by, Cashman said. One reason might be that most teams are waiting until after the draft. However, AL East rival Toronto on Tuesday morning was able to swing a deal with Miami for righty reliever Adam Cimber and lefthanded-hitting outfielder Corey Dickerson.
To this point, the Yankees have stayed beneath the luxury tax threshold. Asked whether it remains a factor as Cashman explores the trade market, he insisted that ownership has not told him anything is off the board. But he added "we’ll have those conversations when they materialize, but hopefully our team will show enough life that it's worthy of being reinforced."
"That's our intent because we're not giving up on our season," Cashman said. "There's enough time left, but there's some massive frustration by how it's played out right now because we [gave] too many games away, we haven’t played to our expectations and it's made [us] at times unwatchable.
"It’s frustrating to be a part of because we're used to so much different than that."
Cashman was asked about the potential to improve the team from within the organization. At Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre infielder Hoy Jun Park was batting .360 and outfielder Trey Amburgey .356. He said there have been "conversations," but he doesn’t sound as if those have progressed to the level of seriousness that the trade talk has.
"There’s no cavalry sitting at Triple-A to say ‘take this person out and pull this person in,’" Cashman said. "We have better than what has performed as a group, but it hasn’t done it yet. . . . The players that are here are on notice that they’ve got to get better or there's going to be changes.
"I understand about Sisyphus pushing up the rock, and having it roll back on your head. But I want to make sure that if we have a choice, that we feel good enough about that choice . . . before we send somebody else out. I just don't want to do something where we don't feel like it's going to make a difference."
The GM didn’t make clear how long he will wait to pull the trigger and left open the door that the Yankees could actually end up sellers this season if things don’t turn around.
"Is there a chance that we could be sellers? Hey, if we fall like a stone obviously then you have to regroup and reassess," he said. "Obviously we're trying to fix what we've got, self-correct what we have and add to it and we can. But if it's unworthy at some point, then you have to have different conversations. . . . I don't think we're at that point yet, but I understand . . . the question: [it’s] because we played to that level right now."
Cashman still thinks it feasible things turn upward after seeing Gary Sanchez turn things around at the plate, Aaron Judge remain consistent and DJ LeMahieu begin to hit.
"I've been through it before, but it doesn't guarantee you get through it," Cashman said of the situation. "Clearly if I can import some outside stuff to help it, I will do so. But those things don't present themselves easy, so we'll still play with the trade conversations [and] in the meantime, everybody's fully focused on trying to get each individual player back online on a consistent basis.
"Still you’ve got to call it like you see it: it's pretty bad right now."
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
